Konterra Installs Micro-Grid with PV Array

Konterra Realty’s corporate headquarters in Laurel, Md., is installing what its solar provider calls one of the nation’s first commercial-scale micro-grids.

Standard Solar and Solar Grid Storage are developing and installing the grid-interactive energy storage system co-located with the 402 kW PV array. The system provides backup power to Konterra, and allows for participation in ancillary markets for electricity, the companies said.

The system at Konterra headquarters includes demand reduction and peak shaving. In the event of a grid power outage, the Solar Grid Storage advanced lithium-ion energy storage system will power critical circuits at Konterra, the companies said.

The system, scheduled to be operational by the fall of 2013, supports grid reliability by helping balance the grid through frequency regulation, volt-ampere reactive (VARs) compensation, and demand response services. It is one of four projects awarded the Maryland Energy Administration Game Changer grant, the companies said.

MEA’s Game Changer competitive grant program provides cost-sharing grants for innovative clean energy generation technologies and market strategies in Maryland. The winning grantees are those projects that seek to advance the market into new territory. The projects are funded based on their ability to help the state meet its renewable energy portfolio standard of 20 percent by 2022, according to the program website.

Konterra is the real estate group behind the 2,200-acre mixed-use development of the same name in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties, Md., between Washington, DC, and Baltimore. When complete, the Konterra development will include a mixed-use town center, retail and hospitality venues, technology campuses, educational institutions, and residential and business communities. Forest City Washington, partnered with Gould Property Company, developed the 488-acre Konterra Town Center East, according to the Konterra web site.